Policies and Disclaimer

DISCLAIMER

By using this website you are accepting all the terms of this disclaimer notice. If you do not agree with anything in this notice you should not use this website.

West Perth Medical Centre makes no representations or warranties in relation to the accuracy or completeness of the information found on it. Material on this website, including text and images, is protected by copyright law and is copyright to West Perth Medical Centre. It may not be copied, reproduced, republished, downloaded, posted, broadcast or transmitted in any way except for your own personal, non-commercial use. Prior written consent of the copyright holder must be obtained for any other use of material. No part of this site may be distributed or copied for any commercial purpose or financial gain. All intellectual property rights in relation to this website are reserved and owned by West Perth Medical Centre.

COMMUNICATION POLICY

For general enquiries, please phone our reception staff who will provide the best possible service for you. Urgent matters will be directed accordingly. Email communication is discouraged due to it not being a secure form of communication so any medical information is best discussed with reception or with your doctor.

RESULTS

If your result is normal, please be aware that you will not be contacted. If your result is not classified as ‘normal’, you will be contacted by the nurse via phone call/sms and mail if unable to contact through the first measures. The nurse will advise if you are required to make an appointment with the doctor to discuss your results.

Our nurse is unable to discuss results over the phone that the doctor has marked to discuss with the doctor specifically and a follow up appointment is required. Results will not be given to a third party. We cannot email results to you but if you require a copy you can arrange to pick one up once your doctor has checked them and approved this. Please note that a fee may be charged for this.

MANAGEMENT OF PATIENT HEALTH INFORMATION

Your medical record is a confidential document. It is the policy of the practice to maintain security of personal health information at all times and to ensure that this information is only available to authorised members of staff. Our Privacy Policy is located in our patient registration form file at the reception desk. If changing practices, to obtain your medical record, you would need to fill out a transfer of notes form at your new practice who will then send to us, and the medical record will be sent directly to the practice.

REMINDER SYSTEM

Please advise us if your contact details, such as phone number or address, change as WPMC is committed to preventative care and may send you a reminder notice if you are due to make an appointment based on our records. If you no longer attend WPMC, please advise our reception staff so that you can be made inactive on our database.

PATIENT FEEDBACK

WPMC respects the fundamental rights of patients to have an accessible and confidential avenue for providing positive or negative feedback about WPMC and the services provided. Patients are encouraged to be open and are able to feel free to discuss all health issues and proposed treatments without fear. Suggestions from you to improve the services offered by our practice are welcomed. We encourage you to fill in a suggestion form or

complaints form located in the waiting room or at reception desk, or via email to the practice manager –manager@westperthmedicalcentre.com.au – and this will be actioned accordingly.

Should there be any problems with the practice that you wish to pursue externally, the appropriate agency is the Health and Disability Services Complaints Office of WA and can be contacted by phone on (08) 9329 0600 or alternatively by email to mail@hadsco.wa.gov.au.

PATIENT CONSENT AND PRIVACY

A copy of West Perth Medical Centre’s Privacy Consent and Privacy policy is available by clicking here.

This general practice collects information from you for the primary purpose of providing quality health care. We require you to provide us with your personal details and a full medical history so that we may properly assess, diagnose and treat illnesses and medical conditions, ensuring we are proactive in your health care. To enable ongoing care, and in keeping with the Privacy Act 1988 and Australian Privacy Principles*, we wish to provide you with sufficient information on how your personal information may be used or disclosed and record your consent or restrictions to this consent.

Your personal information will only be used for the purposes for which it was collected or as otherwise permitted by law, and we respect your right to determine how your information is used or disclosed.

The information we collect may be collected by a number of different methods and examples may include: medical test results, notes from consultations, Medicare details, data collected from observations and conversations with you, and details obtained from other health care providers (e.g. specialist correspondence).

By signing the New Patient Information Form, you (as a patient/parent/guardian) are consenting to the collection of your personal information, and that it may be used or disclosed by the practice for the following purposes:

Disclosure to others involved in your health care, including treating doctors and specialists outside this medical practice. This may occur through referral to other doctors, or for medical tests and in the reports or results returned to us following the referrals.

Accreditation and quality assurance activities to improve individual and community health care and practice management.

For legal related disclosure as required by a court of law.

For the purposes of research only where de-identified information is used.

To allow medical students and staff to participate in medical training/teaching using only de-identified information.

To comply with any legislative or regulatory requirements, e.g. notifiable diseases.

For use when seeking treatment by other doctors in this practice.

At all times we are required to ensure your details are treated with the utmost confidentiality. Your records are very important and we will take all steps necessary to ensure they remain confidential.

By signing the New Patient Information Form, you agree to the following:

I have read the information above and understand the reasons why my information must be collected, and the purposes for which my information may be used or disclosed. I understand that if my information is to be used for any purpose other than that set out above, my further consent will be obtained.

I give permission for my personal information to be collected, used and disclosed as described above, including contact via SMS to my mobile phone number. I understand only my relevant personal information will be provided to allow the above actions to be undertaken and I am free to withdraw, alter or restrict my consent at any time by notifying this practice in writing.